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Notes: Webcasts a sign of spring

Notes: Webcasts a sign of spring

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By Adam McCalvy
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MLB.com |

PHOENIX -- For the second straight Spring Training, every day with a Brewers game will also feature a Brewers broadcast.

In addition to the 12 weekend broadcasts on the Brewers Radio Network and four televised games on FSN North, television play-by-play man Daron Sutton will host interactive webcasts of weekday day games at MilwaukeeBrewers.com.

"I can't even start to tell you how excited I am to get going," said Sutton, who will team with television partner Bill Schroeder for the majority of the webcasts. "All winter long, everywhere I went, people wanted to talk about the Brewers and for good reason. The webcasting allows all of us to get a head start on what should be an amazing season."

Beginning with Thursday's Cactus League kickoff against San Francisco, the webcasts will begin 15 minutes before the first pitch with a pregame show featuring in-depth pitching previews. Sutton also plans to take fan e-mail submissions during each game.

Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash will serve as Sutton's analyst for the March 16 game at Scottsdale Stadium against the Giants, and other scheduled in-game guests include general manager Doug Melvin, principal owner Mark Attanasio, scouting director Jack Zduriencik and farm director Reid Nichols.

Sutton and Schroeder arrived in Phoenix on Tuesday. They will team up for 125 regular-season telecasts on FSN North.

To access the Spring Training webcasts plus all 162 regular season games, fans must have a 2006 MLB.com audio subscription. For details about available subscription products, visit MLB.com.

Bring on the Giants: Chris Capuano's bid to follow up his outstanding, 18-win season begins Thursday with a Cactus League start against Noah Lowry and the Giants.

Capuano is scheduled to pitch just one inning, followed for one inning apiece by Tomo Ohka, Dana Eveland, Jose Capellan, Matt Wise, Dan Kolb, Jorge De La Rosa and Jason Kershner. Lowry, Brad Hennessey, Jack Taschner (a Wisconsin native) and Tim Worrell are among the scheduled pitchers for San Francisco.

After tuning up with a scoreless inning in Tuesday's intrasquad game, Capuano admitted that Thursday will be a bit different.

"I try not to let too much adrenaline take over because I don't want to go out there and overthrow," Capuano said. "I look at it more like a practice. That's exactly what it is."

Off the field: Melvin expects to sign infielder Bill Hall to a one-year contract before Thursday's game but said the door is still open to a multiyear extension.

Hall, the lone member of Milwaukee's 40-man roster not under contract for 2006, won't be eligible for salary arbitration until after this season, but the Brewers expressed some interest in avoiding that process by signing him through 2007 or 2008.

"There is still a possibility, but right now [Hall's representatives] told us they wanted to focus on a one-year deal," Melvin said. "I think they wanted to sit down with Billy first to talk about it."

The Brewers GM also expects in "the next three or four days" to have another conversation with a representative for closer Derrick Turnbow, who is already signed for 2006 but, like Hall, is entering his final pre-arbitration season. Turnbow said the team has approached him about a multiyear deal through 2008.

The Classic begins: Brewers left fielder Carlos Lee participated in about half of Wednesday's light workout before leaving on a flight to Viera, Fla., where he will train with Team Panama for the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

Two other Brewers are expected to play in Thursday's game before joining their respective teams. De La Rosa will travel to Tucson and is expected to be named to Mexico's 30-man Classic roster, and Corey Koskie will travel to Dunedin, Fla., to join Team Canada. Dunedin, ironically, is the Spring Training home of the Toronto Blue Jays, who traded Koskie to the Brewers in January.

Brewers bullpen coach Bill Castro will travel to Kissimmee, Fla., to serve as pitching coach for the Dominican Republic.

Digging for home: The Triple-A Nashville Sounds have targeted April 2008 for the opening of a new riverfront ballpark.

The team on Wednesday named construction managers for the project, which will culminate with a new stadium on the west bank of the Cumberland River. In their first season as the Brewers' top Minor League affiliate, the Sounds won the 2005 Pacific Coast League championship.

Last call: Yost said that Charlie Greene, the Brewers' roving Minor League catching instructor, is expected to manage the Brewers rookie Arizona League affiliate this season. Greene is in camp working with the Brewers' young catchers. ... Rick Helling threw a side session Wednesday and is on track to make his Cactus League debut on Friday, Yost said. Helling was held out of Tuesday's intrasquad game with minor shoulder stiffness. ... Brad Nelson, Nelson Cruz, Hernan Iribarren, Lou Palmisano and Mike Rivera are among the players scheduled to travel to Tempe on Thursday for a charity game against Bartolo Colon and the Angels. The rest of the Brewers roster will consist of players from Minor League camp including Yost's son, Ned IV.

Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.